'Super college' plan aims to place Capital at the global cutting edge

A NEW "super college" in the Capital will create three new centres of excellence and will contribute more than £120 million per year to the local economy.

Details of the proposal to merge Stevenson and Jewel & Esk colleges were set to be officially revealed tonight and will include plans to expand international operations and use technology to reach more students.

The new college - which could open next August - will create centres of excellence in energy and clean technology, creative industries and tourism and hospitality. It will also have a strong focus on sport and health, and on financial and business services.

Plans to merge the two colleges were first revealed by the Evening News in April, and the two principals were set to officially unveil the merger document tonight in front of business leaders, university principals, headteachers and community leaders.

The public consultation runs until the end of September, when the merger decision will be passed to the Scottish Government for approval. It is hoped using a "colleges without walls" approach will reach out to more students in East Lothian and Midlothian through distance learning. The new college will be the second largest in Scotland and one of the biggest in the UK, with more than 20,000 students.

Brian Lister, principal of Stevenson College, said the colleges wanted to "marry" their strengths with the Capital's key economic growth areas.

He said: "We believe the strength of the larger organisation can bring much more of that dynamic together than the individuals.

"It brings a bigger resource to the table. You only need to look at what's happening elsewhere in the UK, and Edinburgh as the Capital city can't sit back. We need to be at the front end of this opportunity and want to be driving national policy.

"We will be able to extend in both a European and international context."

The merger proposal comes at a time of financial hardship for colleges, who have faced cuts of more than 10 per cent.

Stevenson announced plans to cut staff earlier this year, but has limited this to voluntary redundancies only, with a pledge to safeguard jobs for a year. Jewel & Esk College also revealed redundancy plans following a 1.5m budget cut.

Bosses of the two colleges believe the new combined college will make their money go further but insist the proposal is not a direct result of budget cuts.

They say the new college will bring in more than 120m to the area, but that this is a "conservative" estimate. Around 13m alone will be created just by increasing international student numbers by around 25 per cent to 2000 a year.

The new college will also deliver specific training programmes to countries including China and Saudi Arabia.

Mandy Exley, principal of Jewel & Esk College, said: "We believe the new college, with its larger reach and scale, will be better placed to deliver the skilled people that a modern and fast-moving economy needs.

"Bringing together the talented staff and the knowledge of both colleges means we can offer a much greater variety of bespoke training packages for business and industry."